Rubey, William W(alden).in full William Walden Rubey ( born Dec. 19, 1898 , Moberly, Mo., U.S.—died April 12, 1974 , Santa Monica, Calif. ) U.S. geologist known for his theory, proposed in 1951, of the origin of the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, and crust by fractional melting of the upper mantle, the Earth’s intermediate layer.

Rubey was a member of the U.S. Geological Survey from 1924 until 1960, after which he was a professor of geology and geophysics at the University of California at Los Angeles until he retired in 1969.